Dorth, the Enterprise “Kitchen Goddess,” serving up Irving Feinberg  style food stuffs in our TOS rec room set. (Yet another great picture by Mike!)

Craig Binkley, Enterprise prop master was beside himself. “Dougie,” he lamented, “Every food stylist I’ve brought in either doesn’t grasp the concept, or can’t figure out how to be at work on time. Plus, I need someone who  can not only can make normal food, I need someone who can be creative and come up with flaming Targ testicles too!” “Binky-boy,”  I laughed, “have I got the gal for you!’

Dorth with fan, Dominic Keating.

Dom was famous for blowing his lines because he couldn’t stop shoveling Dorth’s good food into his face. His enthusiasm for Dorothy’s so-called prop food became a real problem. Not only was he missing his cue, but a complete reset of every plate was required before every scene. On set prop masters, Charlie Russo “The Propfather,” and Johnny Props, said “Dorth, that guy’s killing us, before he comes to set, bring a heaping plate to his trailer!” That helped squash it a little.

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Mike Okuda enthusiastically recalls the days Dorth was on stage -

“A lot of episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise had scenes where our heroes were eating (The table had replaced the turbo lift for plot exposition).

We loved those because it meant that Craig Binkley (our prop master) would call Dorothy Duder, food stylist extraordinaire.  Not only is Dorothy talented, brilliant, and beautiful, the cast loved her because she always made photogenic, yet delicious food that catered to their dietary preferences.  (I was always amazed at how much work went into making something look “just right” on camera, whether it was traditional Earth food or something that looked alien.)  And to those of us in the Art Department, it was especially good news because it meant that she just might be paying us a visit with a pan of Dorothy’s Brownies!  Even those among us who were watching their weight would make an exception for “just one” of Dorothy’s legendary brownies.

One of Dorothy’s coolest projects was coming up with TOS-style food for “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II.”  She studied the prop food in the original series (some of which was edible, and some of which appeared to be made from non-edible – but photogenic – objects) and devised authentic looking, edible versions for our episode.”

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One of Dorothy’s famous Captain’s Table dishes was meatloaf. I’ve asked her for the recipe, and here it, so if you’re going to eat, eat starfleet! What’s ironic about this dish is that it is “turkey” meatloaf. To quote Kirk in the TOS episode Charlie X, “… if the crew has to eat meatloaf for Thanksgiving, I want it to at least look like turkey!”

Well, here is turkey that looks like meatloaf! How’s that Capn’?

I should also point out that this dish is now standard shuttlepod gear, and became a hot topic on the bulletin boards. Here’s Dorth with her multi purpose, starfleet style turkey meatloaf -

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Turkey Meatloaf

An art department favorite, and a shuttlepod saver too!

The mandate for this episode was to make the food look like an airline dinner.  Since this meatloaf is lighter in color than the traditional beef version, it would presumably look less appetizing on camera… like airline food!  (But the flavor is incredible! I could eat the whole thing in one sitting – Doug) The accompanying mashed potatoes saved the shuttlepod by plugging a leak – a point which was debated heavily in several internet chat rooms and settled by Mike Okuda’s amazing grasp of physics (yes, it IS possible – see footnote).  Let’s hear it for NOT cleaning your plate!

2 pounds ground turkey
2 eggs, beaten slightly
½ cup Italian bread crumbs
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 eight ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash
2 teaspoons Italian herbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until well blended.  Gently press mixture into a standard loaf pan; smooth top of meatloaf with damp fingertips. 

Bake in center of oven for about 60 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and meatloaf has pulled away from sides of pan.  Pour off excess liquids and cool ten minutes before slicing.  Makes 6 servings.

 

Footnote:
Earth-normal air pressure at sea level is about 15 pounds per square inch.  This means that if the hole had an area of one square inch, the air inside the shuttlepod would exert fifteen pounds of force pushing outward through the hole.  Now, a one-square-inch hole is actually quite large and would have been quite easy to find.  I’d guess that the meteoroid puncture was around a tenth of an inch across.  This would mean that the surface area of the hole would have been no more than one one-hundredth of a square inch.  The force of the air on that amount of area would be a hundredth of fifteen pounds, or about 2.4 ounces.  That’s not a lot of force, and I have no problem imagining that mashed potatoes could plug that hole, even if it wouldn’t hold indefinitely.  –Mike Okuda

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A few of Dorth’s colorful “off world” specialties -

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